Good parents know how to care for their children: how to provide rest, healthy snacks, play. They don't blame children for what they don't know or rebuke them for character issues they have yet to outgrow. They understand they are innocent and provide guidance and unconditional love. They soothe fears. They ask for expert help if they need it.

Today know that Love is an Architect, bringing structure, form, stability, foundation, balance, beauty, and function to your life. Love-the-Architect structures your day, your sense of time, the order and pacing of your projects. Love-the-Architect brings balance and order to your thoughts. Today, with trust and appreciation, acknowledge Love-the-Architect at work.

The Bible tells us that God commands the light to shine in the darkness.

Love's commands are always obeyed. Today, know that Love is bringing light to dark places: to places of ignorance or fear or hopelessness, suffering of all sorts. Today, acknowledge that Love is shining - in your heart, in your mind, in your body, in difficult circumstances. Feel the brightness and clarity and power of that light.

Prayer without love is ineffective.Our work is prayer - so work with love.Remember that Love does not evaluate us by any system of human ranking. Your value is not tied to accolades, to popularity, to wealth, to recognition. Feel Love valuing you. You are adored.

Benedictine Joan Chittister in her book Radical Spirit, writes about the blessings of wrestling with our faults and ego:

"Grappling with these deep-down, heart-hardening things takes the soulful persistence of a lifetime, and yet, ironically, it is these things which we confront in ourselves that are exactly the parts of ourselves most worthy of our own patience and mercy. The demons with which we struggle as we go through life are the very things that make for our greatness. In fact, it's these things that make us holy and tender with others while they bring out the best in us. And it is these for which we need the most guidance, the most understanding, the most support."

Today, instead of feeling discouraged by your human weaknesses, see them as sources of your spiritual power. Face them with courage and persistence--and great tenderness and patience. Lean on Love for support -- and let others support you.

Feel the presence of Authority. This divine Authority settles what is unsettled and chaotic in you. This Authority shows you what needs your attention and what does not. This Authority gives you the power - the quiet, still, confidence and strength, the authority - to take effective stands and to be steady in the midst of buffeting challenges.

Intelligence is not a quality of the human brain, but an activity of the Creator, the Divine Mind. Intelligence is a power. Feel that power, supporting wise thoughts and actions, protecting intuition, uncovering ignorance and corruption.

Think of someone you love with great fullness and delight: a best friend, an animal, a child. That is just a hint of the way Love loves you. Love adores you. Love wraps you in affection, tenderness, compassion--a deep appreciation of your qualities, pure delight in who you are.

Because of our habit of self-depreciation and regret, this kind of Love can be difficult to accept, so today be gentle with yourself: just willing to open to the awareness of the fullness of Love's love for you.

Today, ask what Love, your Source, is telling you about yourself. What is Love saying to you about your intelligence, your creativity, your poise, your intuition, your worth? Love gives you the ability to hear the answer. Love gives you the ability to believe and live the answer.